Leptotes
Leptotes, abbreviated Lpt in horticultural trade, is a genus of small sticklike orchids with tube-like leaves. They are small epiphytic plants of caespitous growth that sometimes resemble little Brassavola, as they share the same type of thin terete leaves, though they are more closely related to Loefgrenianthus. Distribution The genus has 7 species, distributed in the dry jungles of south and southeast Brazil, and also in Paraguay or Argentina. The species of Leptotes were originally discovered in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil and are always seen living epiphytically. Two species have since been found in other countries, L. unicolor in Argentina, and L. bicolor in Paraguay. Three species show a high degree of endemism in the south of Bahia State. The states of southeastern Brazil can be considered the center of its distribution since they host the highest number of species and the Leptotes are most abundant there, however, the range is from the Serra da Jibóia chain of mountains, in Bahia, to the North of Rio Grande do Sul State.Van den Berg, Cássio: Leptotes in Genera Orchidacearum Vol.4, pp. 271-3. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780198507123. The species in the group that are characterized by wide open flowers, such as Leptotes tenuis and L. pauloensis, are more frequently found in montane cloud forests. L. bicolor has the broadest range and can survive in both the cloud forests and the dryer woods on the plateaus of the Serra do Mar chain of mountains. Leptotes unicolor grows optimally in cooler areas, above 700 meters of altitude, and is frequently found growing on Araucaria and Podocarpus trees in the southern areas of Brazil. Description Species assigned to the genus Leptotes have a short cylindrical rhizome. They have small pseudobulbs that almost imperceptibly prolongate in one, rarely two, terete fleshy leaves. They have variable characteristics and can be short or long, erect or hanging, dark green or purple, and often have a wrinkly surface and a deeper ridge in the face. The inflorescence is apical, generally short, and grows from the apex of the pseudobulb without a protecting spathe and bears up to seven flowers, although fewer are more common. The flowers are relatively large when compared to the overall plant dimensions, normally partially bent and in some species forming groups with a very showy aspect. They are fragrant and this perfume can last from ten to twenty days.Miller, David; Richard Warren; Izabel Moura Miller & Helmut Seehawer: Serra dos Órgãos sua história e suas orquídeas, p. 240. Rio de Janeiro, 2006. The appearance of the petals and sepals is similar, both are elongated although the petals are slightly more narrow. Flower colors are generally greenish, white or variable shades of pink and the labellum (a special petal attractive to pollinators) can be spotted in pale yellow, light purple or lilac. The labellum is located along the column and trilobed (three lobes). The lateral lobes are small and raised beside the column, although never involving it. The intermediate lobe is much bigger and quite variable between species. They can have either lanceolate or obovate shape, occasionally be fleshy, flat or bending backwards; in some species they have denticulated edges but are smooth in others. Rarely, calli are present, with claws holding them attached to the sides of the column. The column is short, thick and erect, normally greenish, biauriculated, and bears six pollinia of different sizes, two larger in the center and four smaller in two pairs held by a short caudicle in an arrangement that is unique among orchids. Their fruits are rounded, succulent and have a perfume reminiscent of Vanilla.Withner, Carl Leslie: The Cattleyas and Their Relatives, Vol. 3, pp.94-95. Timber Press, Oregon. ISBN 0881922692 The agent for the pollination of Leptotes has never been observed. Cássio van den Berg postulates, judging from the colors and morphology of the flowers, that bees are the primary agent, while other orchidologists suspect pollination by hummingbirds is more important. Some species of Leptotes are widely cultivated and form showy displays when completely in bloom although they are not among the easiest to grow. The majority of the species are not cultivated and some are so rare to be almost unknown; five of the nine species have been described since 2000. Besides being cultivated for their ornamental value, there are records of the flowers and fruits of Leptotes bicolor being used as a substitute for vanilla in milk, ice cream, tea and candies.Lawler, L.J.: Ethnobotany of the Orchidaceae in Orchid biology: reviews and perspectives, Vol.3. J. Arditti Ed., Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1984. Culture Plant grows in medium to bright light and cool to warm temperatures. Ideal growth conditions require an intermediate temperature and exposure to filtered sunlight. As the roots of Leptotes rot easily with excessive humidity, the best results for their culture are achieved when they are mounted on plaques of vegetal fiber or tree cork. Watering and fertilizer must be more frequent during active growth periods and less during dormant periods.Pridgeon, Alex: Leptotes in Genera Orchidacearum Vol.4, p. 274. Oxford Unity Press, 2006. ISBN 9780198507123. Naming The genus is named after its delicate growth habits. Taxonomy In April of 1833, an unknown species from the Serra dos Órgãos mountains of Brazil blossomed in the greenhouse of Mrs. Arnold Harrison, an English collector of orchids homaged in diverse descriptions of noted species such as Bifrenaria harrisoniae and Cattleya harrisoniana. A short time later, Mrs. Harrison sent a drawing and cutting of this plant to the botanist John Lindley, who verified it to be not only a new species but a new genus. In its description, dated the same year, Lindley suggests the name of Leptotes, from the Greek λεπτότητα for mild, delicate, in reference to the appearance of the plant's flowers. He affirmed that Leptotes was similar to Tetramicra, from which it is distinguished by the structures of the pollinarium and by the smaller lateral lobes of the lip petal; and because they have no calcar attached to the ovarium. He also differentiated it from Brassavola by the pollinia and trilobed lip. Lindley then described its type-species, Leptotes bicolor.Lindley, John: Leptotes bicolor in Edward's Botanical Register Vol.19, t.1625. James Ridgway & Sons Ed. London, 1833. Published on internet. In 1865, Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach received, from an unknown locality in Brazil, the second described species to be accepted today. The plant was quite different from Leptotes bicolor, because of its fewer and smaller rounded flowers, with wide open pale yellowish segments and he published it as L. tenuis.Reichenbach, Heinrich Gustav: Leptotes tenuis in Hamburger Garten Blumenzeitung Vol.21, pp. 296. Hamburg, 1865. Twelve years later, the third species, Leptotes unicolor, was described by Brazilian botanist João Barbosa Rodrigues. His account described a highly fragrant little species of orchid and he found some colonies with hundreds of plants living epiphyticaly along the banks of the Dourado and Sapucai rivers, nearby the city of Alfenas, in Minas Gerais.Barbosa Rodrigues, João: Leptotes unicolor in Genera et species orchidacearum novarum Vol.1, p.74. 1877. Published on Internet, in French and Latin. In 1881, Barbosa Rodrigues found another species, this one with longer leaves and slight differences in floral structure, and named it as L. paranaensis after Paraná State where he first found the plant, although today the location near Joinville is located in Santa Catarina.Barbosa Rodrigues, João: Leptotes paranaensis in Genera et species orchidacearum novarum Vol.2, pp.163. 1881. Published on Internet, in French and Latin. Today this species is considered to be just a variation of L. unicolor, the species he had described four years earlier.Pabst, Guido & Dungs, Fritz : Orchidaceae Brasilienses vol. 1 p. 148, Brucke-Verlag Kurt Schmersow, Hildesheim, 1975. ISBN 3871050106 Robert Allen Rolfe received from Brazil, also without information of locality, a plant similar to the Leptotes tenuis species described by Reichenbach over 20 years earlier. Rolfe described it as L. minuta and noted it had much thicker and shorter leaves.Rolfe, Robert Allen: Leptotes minuta in Gardeners' Chronicle Vol.1889-2: p. 323. London, 1889. This new species was included in Célestin Alfred Cogniaux's revision of Brazilian orchid species, published 1903, but in doing so he was unaware of the variability within the Leptotes species. At the time Cogniaux published his book he had not had the opportunity to check the types of all the other species then described, therefore, he accepted most of them with this remark.Cogniaux, Célestin Alfred: Leptotes in Flora Brasiliensis Vol.3 Part.6: pp. 254-259. K.F.P. von Martius Ed., 1903. Published on Internet, in Latin. In retrospect, it is now more clear that the variation in leaves was due to both the isolation of various populations and because of the different growth conditions in each habitat, and today L. minuta is known as a variation of L. tenuis. While living in Brazil, the Danish Botanist Johan Albert Constantin Loefgren received an Orchid from Itatiaia, Rio de Janeiro, with flowers reminiscent of the Leptotes, although its lip petal formed a pouch. He described it as Leptotes blanche-amesiae, also noting it had a pending habit and thin flat leaves.Loefgren, Johan Albert Constantin: Leptotes blanche-amesiae in Arquivos do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro Vol.2: p. 58. Rio de Janeiro, 1918. Later work on the genus by Frederico Carlos Hoehne led him to conclude that this species, despite being closely related to the Leptotes, would be better placed in another genus. He proposed the genus Loefgrenianthus, in hommage to Loefgren.Hoehne, Frederico Carlos: Loefgrenianthus in Arquivos de Botânica do Estado de São Paulo Vol.1: p. 593. São Paulo, Julho de 1927. In 1934, Hoehne also described a new species, Leptotes pauloensis, naming it so because it was found in São Paulo State. This species is closely related to Leptotes tenuis but its flowers have different colors. For decades taxonomists were divided on whether this should be considered a new species, partly due to the fact it was so rare, indeed, Guido Pabst considered it a synonym of L. tenuis. Recently many new colonies have been discovered and Withner now proposes that L. pauloensis should be accepted as a separate species.Withner, Carl Leslie: The Cattleyas and Their Relatives, Vol. 3, p.96. Timber Press, Oregon. ISBN 0881922692 Consequently, as of 2004, four species of Leptotes were known, three sufficiently different to be well established species, L. bicolor, L. unicolor and L. tenuis, and one, L. pauloensis, that was becoming more frequently accepted by taxonomists. A recent explosion of descriptions has more than doubled the size of this genus, however, the history of these discoveries starts much earlier. In 1954, one of the associates of Círculo Paulista de Orquidófilos, an orchid society in São Paulo, presented a lecture where he talked informally about the innumerable varieties of Leptotes that he had collected throughout the years. This lecture was printed and distributed in the bulletin of the association.Krackowizer, F. J.: Monografia do gênero Leptotes in Revista do Círculo Paulista de Orquidófilos Vol.11, pp. 53-63 e 64-72. São Paulo, 1954. In 2004, Eric Christenson identified at least two of the several varieties mentioned in the lecture to be existing in collections throughout the United States and decided to describe them formally as independent species. One of these plants, Leptotes harryphillipsii, is very similar to L. pauloensis already a problematic species by itself.Christenson, Eric A.: Leptotes harryphillipsii in Orchids South Africa Vol.35, pp. 53. Cape Town, 2004. The other one, L. mogyensis, is unknown to Brazilian scholars and collectors. The sole example is the plant Christenson found in the US, supposedly originated from Mogi das Cruzes, a city nearby São Paulo.Christenson, Eric A.: Leptotes mogyensis in Orchids South Africa Vol.35, pp. 54. Cape Town, 2004. Two other new species described in 2004 belong to the affinity of Leptotes bicolor and were both found by the same surveyor in the region of Buerarema, south of Bahia. Leptotes bohnkiana, named after its finder, can be differentiated because it has a significantly smaller stature,Campacci, Marcos Antonio: Leptotes bohnkiana in Boletim CAOB Vol.53, p.17. São Paulo, 2004. ISSN 14194590. the other, L. pohlitinocoi, mostly by color.Vitorino P. Castro Neto & Chiron, Guy: Leptotes pohlitinocoi in Richardiana Vol.4: p.78. Paris, 2004. In 2006 Sidney Marçal de Oliveira discovered another species to be described, also from Bahia, although an inhabitant of Chapada Diamantina too. This new species, Leptotes vellozicola, is quite distinct from the other species.Van den Berg, Cássio et al: Leptotes vellozicola em Neodiversity Vol.1, pp. 2, 2006. Published on internet. According to Cássio van den Berg et al., who studied their phylogeny, Leptotes is very closely related to Loefgrenianthus and both situated between Pseudolaelia and the genus which once used to be classified as Schomburgkia, by some now considered part of Laelia. Van den Berg, Cássio et al: A Phylogenetic analysis of Laellinae based on sequence data from internal transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA in Lindleyana vol.15-2, pp. 96–114, 2000. Published on Internet. The three main characteristics that differentiate between the species of Leptotes are the general proportions of the leaves, the shape of the flowers, and the way the flowers open. From these, the species can be classified into two main groups. One group is formed by the four species with flowers of elongated segments, which generally are not widely open. These species present malleable inflorescence that leave the flowers slightly or very overthrown, frequently facing down. Almost all the species of this group have long leaves, of comparatively lighter tones, generally with smooth surfaces, that are longer than the inflorescence. The other group is formed by five smaller species that have more rounded flowers with petals and sepals that are wide open and flatter. The leaves are shorter wrinkly leaves, generally very dark green or purple colored. The species of this group often have only one or two flowers on each inflorescence. Four of them are very similar and sometimes difficult to distinguish. Species *''Leptotes bicolor'' Lindl., 1833. *''Leptotes bohnkiana'' Campacci,2004. *''Leptotes harryphillipsii'' Christenson, 2004. *''Leptotes mogyensis'' Krackow. ex Christenson, 2004. *''Leptotes pauloensis'' Hoehne, 1933 publ. 1934. *''Leptotes pohlitinocoi'' V.P.Castro & Chiron, 2004. *''Leptotes tenuis'' Rchb.f., 1865. *''Leptotes unicolor'' Barb.Rodr.,1877. *''Leptotes vellozicola'' Van den Berg, 2006. References *